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Recipe: Homemade granola

But alas, the store-bought variety is often chock-full of unhealthy ingredients – refined sugar, saturated fat and salt. And did I mention that most granola is a veritable calorie bomb? Some store-bought granolas have as many as 250 calories per 1/4 cup serving.

So I decided to make my own. This version replaces the unhealthy fat with omega-3-rich olive oil and eliminates both the added sugar and added salt. The recipe can be made gluten-free as well. (Just make sure the rolled oats are certified gluten-free.)

What’s left is good-for-you protein and fiber and about half the calories.

Now I’m going to confess: I just go ahead and allow myself a more realistic 1/2 cup serving rather than limiting myself to 1/4 cup if I’m eating my own granola as cereal. And I add 1/4 cup rather than the recommended two tablespoons to my yogurt if I’m having a fresh fruit parfait. That means I’ll end up consuming the same number of calories, but I get to eat twice as much.

This recipe makes approximately 4-5 cups of granola, depending on whether one adds the optional dried fruit. I generally make some with the fruit to enjoy as cereal with nonfat milk, and some without the dried fruit so I can add it to a fresh fruit parfait.

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup sugar-free maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup unsalted sliced almonds or chopped pecans

1 cup unsweetened raisins or dried cranberries (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the oil, syrup, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl. Use a stick blender if necessary to mix thoroughly.

Add the oats and nuts and stir until completely coated with the oil and syrup mixture.

Spread the mixture onto a large baking sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking oil.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so, until golden brown.

Sometimes I just pour skim milk on the granola and enjoy. But on mornings when I have a little time to relax, I figure, “Why stop there?”

One of my favorite breakfast treats is a fresh fruit parfait. I start with about 3/4 cup of fat-free plain Greek yogurt, pile on a generous layer of fresh fruit such as strawberries, raspberries or blueberries, add about 1/4 cup of my homemade granola, and top with a dollop of sugar-free whipped cream.

28 thoughts on “Recipe: Homemade granola”

I make our granola too, though I use actual maple syrup bought from a stand down the road. I never heard of sugar free maple syrup. I put slivered almonds in ours along with wheat germ. We use full fat Greek yogurt finding it really does fill us up. I can no longer remember where I saw the recommendation for full fat yogurt.

I’m pretty sure it’s “maple flavor” rather than the real thing, but as a diabetic, I’ve had to kind of settle for that sometimes. I’m grateful for the folks who have been able to make my eating experiences as close as possible to everyone else’s so I’m not feeling too deprived.

Actually, nothing is really “forbidden” but we have to track our carbs, and as soon as something has sugar in it, the carbs add up really fast. Plus refined sugar has a higher “glycemic index” than the natural sugars found in fruits and veggies. So it’s kind of a balancing act.